BATTLESPACE: Anatomy Of Extinction
by F-302 Pilot
Summary: When two very different branches of Humanity meet both believe their desires for survival have been answered. There is an old adage - - - Be careful what you wish for...


**B****ATTLE****S****PACE:  
**

**ANATOMY OF EXTINCTION**

**Prologue**

**T****HE ****C****LANS**

For over eight hundred years the Clans that formed the Great Houses had kept the people safe. Not safe from invaders or disease or even economic down turns. No, that was the job of the Government. The Clans maintained social order for the survival of a lost people.

The Clans had been formed three years after they were cut off from their mother world. With an initial population of three hundred eighteen and due to a significant number of deaths in the first few years to alien invaders and accidents the population had dwindled to two hundred sixty-four. A means of survival had to be found.

To insure the future genetic stability of the people, mates were voluntarily assigned based on genetic diversity. Due to the uneven distribution between the males and females many women were allowed up to three husbands.

Seventy-eight Clans were formed strictly for the purpose of insuring a valid genome for future generations.

In the first few decades the population grew quickly as the Clans attempted to have as many children as possible. Harsh economic realities put a limit on growth rates but by the fourth decade after "Separation" the population had grown from two hundred sixty-four to just over three thousand. Over the centuries the tightly controlled population continued to grow and eventually stabilized at around twenty-eight million.

The Clans had been so successful that they became part of the governing body. Outside of the daily functions of the government, it was the Clans that determined who would marry along with which couples would have children and how many. It was the Clans that passed laws determining social behavior and disciplined their family members when the established social order was disregarded.

One might think that this type of power would corrupt the Great Houses that kept social order. Normally that may have been true. But the Clans had always worked together towards survival alongside the government. Its success lay in the fact that life was extremely harsh during the first few centuries. The Clans could ill afford to become rivals instead of partners or all would die.

After centuries of social cooperation the Clans and the Government had integrated into their roles rather nicely.

While marriages are no longer arranged they needed to be approved by the two Houses of the candidates involved. Genetic diversity within the limited gene pool above all else still played a primary role. There were also other considerations when entering into a marital union. Not all the laws of the individual Clans were uniform. Religious beliefs were also a factor.

Religion was not very popular among the people for science had been and still was their savior. Those few who did have religious beliefs were thought to be "rather silly" but they had recognized rights and freedoms. Since people "Of Belief" are present in nearly every Clan and that was another factor that had to be considered.

It was a difficult task finding a balance between the Clans and Government. That balance needed to be fair and impartial while continuing the traditions of the past centuries to insure social order into the future. The Clans had no only managed, they had excelled.

**T****HE ****G****OVERNMENT**

In the beginning the Government had its hands full coordinating the very basics for survival and was little more than a planning group headed by the military commander of the only installation. Their full time duties were to coordinate activities such as providing food, shelter and energy along with defending the people from aliens when they attacked.

It was nearly one hundred and fifty years before the Government took on a more traditional role as a full time entity that looked after the material needs of its citizens. Another two centuries passed before the Government evolved into its current semi-democratic form.

The Chairman presides over the Board of Directors which are elected by the people in a series of general elections to run one of the Directorates that keep the population fed, housed and safe from alien predators. The Chairman in turn is elected by the members of the Board from within the Board itself.

The only Director not elected by the general public is that of the Defense Directorate which is nominated by the military and confirmed or rejected by the Board of Directors for a term of six years. The members of the Defense Directorate are restricted from holding the position of the Chairman.

The Defense Director is barred from voting on general issues usually addressed by the Board of Directors unless a vote pertains directly to the Defense Directorate such as the acquisition of additional ships for the fleet or some other aspect directly impacting its ability to serve its function.

Of the eighteen Directorates the smallest and least influential is the Defense Directorate. It sole purpose is the protection the people from alien invaders. Though the Defense Directorate has virtually no influence in governmental or Clan policies it needs are always kept in mind. The Defense Directorate is composed of volunteers from all the Clans and every Directorate. Membership in the Defense Directorate unlike the other seventeen is temporary based on the duration of one's military service. Of all the services the Government provides to the people, volunteering to serve in the Defense Directorate is considered the most honorable.

The Government is in essence a nontraditional democratic economic caste system. Every member of society regardless of Clan holds a position within society. That position is covered under one of eighteen Directorates. A person working for the Food Directorate or the Housing Directorate is subject to the civil rules and regulations of that Directorate.

The Directorates are forbidden from passing laws that interfere with Clan (Family) affairs. Members of the same immediate family often belong to separate Directorates while still being members of the same Clan.

The Directorates themselves have limited power over the people but tremendous power over society. Each Directorate strives to improve the conditions of its "members" and in turn society improves across the spectrum benefiting everyone over time.

The Government had not been planned from the many examples from the past of their birth world. It had evolved from nothing together with the Clans for survival and after eight centuries they were inseparable. Both having clearly defined roles, yet each needing the other to function. An alien that took the time to examine the Clans and the Government would be hard pressed to distinguish the two but the differences were stark and necessary.

**T****HE ****O****UTSIDERS**

In the year 867 A.S. the Outsiders came as refugees from an unknown area of space. Their arrival was welcomed and even celebrated.

They brought with them a unique culture and new if somewhat inferior technologies that could help to improve the living standards of the people. The real prize was that they afforded a chance to incorporate their genetic diversity into a population whose genome was constantly of the edge of atrophy. The potential infusion of genetic material from the Outsiders was a treasure beyond measure.

Despite the Government and Clans best efforts the Outsiders quickly wore out their welcome. The Outsiders were militant, they were self righteous and they were technophobic religious fanatics. Worst of all they were desperate and they were not alone.

Refugees are always fleeing something be it a natural disaster or one of intentional design. These refugees brought with them a plague. Not a plague of disease but a plague of killings machines known as Cylons. A plague of their own making.

The Cylons followed the fleeing refugees so they could wipe out the last Human remnant of the Twelve Colonial Tribes of Kobol along with the long lost mythical Thirteenth Tribe. The Cylons had one goal. Destroy the life form known as Man.

The Colonial refugees did not find Earth. What they found was the Alphans and the rouge moon Luna that had broken away from Earth's orbit during a massive nuclear explosion over eight hundred years ago in the Earth year 1999 A.D.

The Outsiders brought a war that would break the eight centuries of progress and security that the Government and Clans had worked so hard to achieve. A war that did not restrict itself to Cylon against Human. For the first time since separation Humans would fight and kill other Humans in organized acts that defied the very essence of Alphan society.

For the first time since the early days the Alphans were faced with a war of survival. This time it was a war fought with weapons as opposed to a war against the elements.

A war that after decades of terrible conflict continues to this day.

**TBC**  
**In Chapter 1**


End file.
